Autographic register



May 17,1932. A, B, COOKE 1,858,953

AUTOGRAPHIC REGI STER originl Filed sept. 14, 1926 5 sheets-sheet 1 May i?, 1932. A. B. cooKE 1,858,953

-AUTOGRPHIC REGISTER Original Filed Sept. 14, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 17, 1932. A, B, coOKE 1,858,953

AUTOGRAPHIG REGI STER Original Filed Sept. 14, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 coi Patented May 17, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ALLEN B. COOKE, F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIG-NOR TO UNITED AUTOGB/AIPHIC REGISTER COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATIONOF ILLINOIS .AUTOGRAlPI-IIC REGISTER Original application led September 14, 1926, Serial No. 135,451. Divided and this application` le-d September 25,r 1929.

This invention relates particularly to a means for severing-one or more of the webstrips, employed in an autographic register device, into tickets or strips of tickets.

The invention is especially adapted to be employed in machines of the type which file, or store, the original web-strips, the websevering means of the present invention being employed to cut one or more of the webstrips into tickets which are stored within the machine.

The primary object is to provide a .severing means of this characterof improved general construction and operation and embodying numerous improved features.

This application constitutes a division of my application, Serial No. 135,451, led September 14, 1926.'

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which I Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of an autographic register provided with the severing means of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical staggered sectional View, taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view o-f a portion of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1, certain portions of theV cover being omitted.

Fig. 4 is a staggered transverse vertical sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view of the web-severing means illustrated `i in Fig. 2, showing the same at the beginning of the downward stroke of the knife.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, showing the position of the knife at the conclusion of the downward stroke of the knife.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of .a blank form of web-strip of thetype used in the autographic register herein described.

For the purpose of convenience, the portion of the casing adjacent the operator of the register will be hereafter designated the vback or rear portion, while that portion projecting away from the operator will be designated as the front. The casing of the register is of the type usual in autographic registers. consisting of vertical longitudinal side A WallsllO arising from a base or bottom plate seriai No. 395,071.

11,- the side walls being connected along a portion of the upper edges by a platen 12. The web-strip feeding and control-mechanism is positionedsomewhat forward of the longitudinal center of the casing, the platen .12 extending toward the rear end of the maor more suitable filing pins 16. These-iiling pins 16 may be operated in any 'suitable manner, such as disclosed in my prior application, Serial No. 46,714, filed July 29, 1925. The web-strips each consists of a paper strip 17 (Fig. 7 provided with spaced rows of apertures 18. These apertures 18 are formed in pairs and are preferably located between thev respective forms printed upon the webstrips and are utilized in the control of the strip vadvancement, the registration of thev ticket, and for impaling the individual ticket upon the lin pin 16.

The strip feeding-mechanism consists of upper and lower feed roller shafts 19 and 20 the former of which is journaled in a lift frame 21 hinged at one end to ears 22 at the side ofthe casing to permit the same to be raised when inserting the paper strips, and the lower shaft is journaled in the side walls of the casing in vertical alinement be low shaft 19. Forward of these shafts is the drive-shaft 23 that extends through bearings in the side-walls of the casing and has an operating handle or crank 24 secured to its end that is in front of the hinge of the lift-i frame 21. The opposite end of the driveshaft 23 has a gear 25 secured to it that meshesV with an intermediate idle gear 26 carried on a stud projecting from the sidewall 10, and said idle gear is in mesh with and drives a pinion 27 upon the adjacent end of the lower feed roller shaft 2O and the proportions of this gearing is such that the feed-roller shaft 2O is rotated faster than the drive-shaft 23. Shafts 19 and 20 are parts of the upper and lower feed members that advance the strips through the register, and are geared together at their ends opposite the pinion 27, by the respective gears.

of the apertures so that when the latter come into registration with said members the advance of the strips will be arrested.

The arrest of the strip advancement takes place intermittently or at the end of each set of tickets fed through the register, and it will be noted that the upper and lower feed roller members are of different diameters in the same ratio as the diameter of the gears 28 and 29 so that there is a dependable feed of the strips when the disks are not in registry with the filling apertures of the strips. When the respective feed members are registered with the apertures they are inoperative to advance the strips until the latter have been advanced slightly by the starter or initial feed devices.

Any suitable starter devices may be employed, and, for convenience, I have shown the type of mechanism which is the subjectmatter of my co-pending application, Serial No. 135,452, filed September 14, 1926, This structure, briefly stated, consists of radial lugs, blocks, or projections 32 and 33 that eX- tend from the respective feed shafts 19 and 20, and have concentric outer faces of the same radial diameters as the feed roller members 30 and 31. The rotation of the feed shafts is timed so that the respective elements 32 and 33 oppose each other, but once in a plurality of revolutions which is at about the time the feed rollers register with the filing apertures in the strips,-in other words, shaft 19, in the illustration given, revolves eight times to five revolutions of shaft 20.

The driving mechanism is also controlled so as to be stopped at the time the peripheries of the elements 32 and 33 come into engagement. This is done by a cam stop 34 on the end of a driven cam shaft 35 extended through the walls of the casing, which stop is engaged by a projection 36 on a spring-returnable bell-crank trigger 37 that is pivotally carried by the crank-handle 24. The opposite end of the cam shaft has a gear 38 l torn from the respective strips.

secured to it that is in mesh and is driven by a pinion 39 next to gear 25 on the drivesaft 23 so that the idle cam shaft 35 makes a single revolution during two revolutions of drive-shaft 23, and then the cam is in position to stop the rotation of the crank.

ln front of the feed roller members there mounted a horizontally disposed divider element in the. form of a bar 40 of irregular sectionl with its horizontal position, which is nearest the feed members, tapered to a somewhat pointed edge 41 that faces the strips being advanced by the feed mechanism. The bar 40 extends transversely from wall to wall of the register and its upper surface is in the same horizontal plane as the platen so that when the strips are inserted and fed through the apparatus the upper or original strip will pass over the upper surface of the bar 40 and into the filing space 15 of the register, while the remaining strips are separated from the upper strip and pass downwardly against the inclined lower face of the bar. It will be understood that more than one strip may be fed into and stored in the filing space, and do not limit myself to the filing of only the original or upper strip. Extending forwardly and downwardly from the front end of the platen 12 is an inclined guide plate 42 the forward edge of which is sharpened into a beveled tearing-blade 43 spaced slightly from the bar as seen in Fig. 2 so that the tickets to be discharged and removed may be pulled against said blade 43 and thus detached from the strip or strips.

The lower strips travel between the guide plate 42 and the bar 40 and pass into a conical or horn-shaped discharge chute or receptacle 44 the walls of which taper (converge) towards the casing wall opposite the operatinghandle 24. The strip or strips are discharged into this chute 44 until their advance has been arrested in the manner above described, and it will be found that a corner a: of the discharged strips will have been projected beyond the plane of the side-wall of the casing where it may be readily grasped. by the operator and pulled horizontally away from the register and out of the chute and the slight twist or curl of the strips in this operation is sufficient to cause the strips to be pulled against the blade 43 and the tickets The wide or larger end of the chute 44 fits an opening or window 45 in the adjacent side-wall of the casing, and its opposite end is provided with lugs 46 by which the same is secured to the adjacent other wall of the casing.

The mechanism for severing one or more of the strips into separate tickets may be constructed as follows. As has been already mentioned, the strip-severing device of the present invention is particularly adapted to sever from the strip or strips, the ticket or tickets, to be filed upon the pin 16 in the forward compartment 15. The strip-severing means, briefly, comprises a lpair of clamping members to hold the strip, or strips, to be cut, and a knife positioned between the clamping members. Suitable mechanism is provided for operating the clamping members and the knife. This operating mechanism is preferably so synchronized with the driving mechanism for the strip-feeding devices so that the knife and clamping mechanism operate only when the advance of the web-strips has ceased.

The upper portions of the side-walls 10 are provided with vertically elongated slots 47 in which are guided the Vends of horizontal clamping-bars 48 and 49 that consist of elongated metal plates positioned upon their edges and having ears 50 projecting from their ends outside the walls of the casing to which the upper ends of coiled contraction springs 51 are connected for urging said bars normally down towards the divider-bar 40. The faces of the clamping bars are close to each other, being spaced apart only far enough for the interpositioning of a thin cutter-blade or knife 52, and said bars are mechanically moved downwardly so that their lower longitudinal edges will contact the divider bar 40 or the paper strips thereon and hold the latter firmly while the knife is being operated to sever the ticket or tickets. The upper surface of the bar 40 is provided with a narrow groove 53 at the location where the knife 52 will engage the same to cut the paper. The knife and the clamping bars are reciprocated vertically by means of a cani and bell-crank structure.

The cam-shaft 35 is provided near its ends with cams 54 that have portions that are concentric with their axes of rotation and other portions that are irregular in form, and the edges of said cams are engaged by rollers 55 carried upon the lower arms 56 of a pair of three-arm bell-cranks secured to a horizontal rocker-shaft 57. Upper arms 58 project in the same direction from the bell-crank as the lower arms 56 and have straight edges 59 that are engaged by crank-pins 60 projecting from the faces of the cams 54. The third arms 61 of the bell-crank project in the opposite direction away from the upper and lower arms 56 and 58 and their end portions are engaged with the clamping bars 48 and 49 and 4the knife 52 to actuate the same. Clamping-bars 48 and 49 are respectively provided with vertically elongated slots 62 and 63, of sufficient width to be entered by the arms 61, and it will be seen that the slots in the clamping bar 49 are slightly longer than those in the other clamping bar 48. Apertures 64 are made in the knife 52 which are just the size to receive the arm 61 of the bell-crank without permitting substantially any play between these parts.

l/Vhen the clamps and knife are raised to normal position during the advancement oi' the strips through the register, the upper end edges of the slots 62 and 63 and the upper edges of the apertures 64 in the knife are all in alinement, as shown in Fig. 2, with the crank-pins 60 out of engagement with the arm 58 and with the rollers 55 on the lower arms 56 engaging the concentric portions of the cams 54 which are rotating in the direction of the arrows in Figs. 5 and 6. As soon as the eccentric portions of the-cams 54 engage with the roller 55 (just prior to reaching the position shown in Fig. 5), thefbellcranks will rock, thus lowering the arms 61 to permit thesprings 51 to pull downathe clamping-bars into engagement with the paper prior to the cutting action by the knife 52. The crank-pins 60 now engage the straight portions 59 of the arms 58 to raise the latter and cause a quick downward movement of the ends of the arms 61 that are engaged with the knife, which movement forces the knife 52 through the paper and into the slot 53 on the upper surface of the divider bar, thus severing the'ticket or tickets from the strip or strips that are to be ifiled.- The cam shaft 35 continues to rotate until'the stop-cam 34 arrests the further rotation of the operating crank-handle 24, and as the crank-pins 60 clear the arms 58, the rollers 55 begin to move towards the concentric portions of the cams 54, which movement depresses the arms 56 and raises the arms 61 so that first the knife is withdrawn, then the clamping bar 48 is raised (which releases the cut-off portion of the paper to be filed), and, lastly, the clamping bar 49 is raised from the adjacent end of the strip or strips so that the advancement of the paper strip, or strips, may be accomplished without interference when thenext set of tickets is to be fed through the machine. In order to guide the paper to the filing pins 16 prior to being severed by the knife, there is provided a movable guard in the form of a horizontally disposed concavo-c'onveX plate 65 the upper corners of which are provided with lateral trunnions 66 that enter small apertures in the side-walls of the casing and hingedly mount the guard in a position so that the paper will readily pass between its concave side and the curved or convex face of the divider-'bar It will be understood from Fig. 2 that during the feeding operation the uppermost strip is deflected downwardly into the filing compartment 10 by means of member 65. The filing pins 16 are actuated in any suitable manner, as, for example, in the manner described in my pending application, Serial No. 46,714, filed July 29, 1925;Y In the operation, the front end of the strip is deflected downwardly while the filing pins are retracted; and at the proper time the filing pins are advanced into contact with the paper so as to be in position to move into engagement with the appertures with which the strip is provided at its front end. Eventually, the ticket, or sales slip, is severed from the strip and the slip is deposited face downwards in the filing compartment in the manner fully explained in the application just referred to.

Also, during the feeding operation, the copy strips (duplicate, triplicate, etc.) are deflected downwardly by the member (divider) 40 into the conical compartment 44 which opens laterally through one lateral wall ofthe casing; and these copy strips are so curled beneath the tearing-off edge 42 as to be readily accessible at the discharge oriice of the chamber 44. At the conclusion of the feeding operation, the main feed disks operate idly when they encounter the apertures in the strip. The crank is turned, however, until the driving means is automatically arrested by the stop arm 34 on the rotating stop-shaft 35. This occurs at the instant that 'the initial feed segments 32 and 33 come into their initial gripping relation and grip the strips. rIhe segments are thus in position to hold the strips While the copy strips are being severed on the tearing edge 42 by a pull on the Strip in a lateral direction with respect to the casing. Also, the segments are thus left in position to be in readiness to initiate the feed 0f the neXt feeding operation.

By filing the original sales slip 17 in an inverted condition, they are stacked in the sequence of issuance, and the stack of slips may be retained in this order when it is moved from the filing compartment to enable the slips to be permanently filed.

It will be appreciated, while I have herein described a structure in which the top or original strip is adapted to be eut into tickets and filed in the storage space at the front of the register, and the remaining tickets advanced through the side of the register to be grasped or torn ofi", more than one of the strips may be fed into the formed storage space and cut and filed upon the pins 16, and such use is fully contemplated as coming within the scope of the appended claims.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitation should be understood therefrom, but the appended claims should be construed as broadly as permissible, in view of the prior art.

What I regard as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. In a register of the character set forth, a casing provided with a platen, strip-feeding means adapted to feed strips across and project them beyond said platen, a stationary lower cutter bar positioned beyond said platen over which the upper strip, or strips, may be fed, means for deflecting the remaining strips away from said cutter bar, a cutter blade and an associated clamping member disposed above and coaeting with said stationary cutter bar, and means for operating said blade and clamping member.

2. In a register of the character set forth, n

a casing provided with a platen, strip feeding means adapted to feed strips across and project them beyond said platen, a stationary lower cutter bar positioned beyond said platen over which the up er strip, or strips, i may be fed, means for de ecting the remaining strips away from said cutter bar, a cutter blade and an associated clamping member vided with a slot and cutting edge, over which bar a strip may be fed by said feeding mechanism, a pair of clamping members and an interposed cutter-blade disposed above said bar, and means for releasing the clamping members into clamping engagement and then causing the cutter-blade to effect severance of the strip.

4. ln a machine of the character set forth, strip feeding mechanism, a divider and associated shearing edge and slot, a pair of y spring-held clamping members and an interposed cutter-blade disposed above said divider, and a device actuated by the strip feeding mechanism serving to actuate said clamping members and blade and operative to release the clamping members into engagement with the strip before the strip severing operation occurs and to withdraw the blade in advance of the withdrawal of the clamping members.

5. In a machine of the character set forth, a casing provided with a platen, strip feeding means adapted to feed strips across and project them beyond said platen, including feetL rolls provided with normal feed-disks A adapted to work idly when they encounter punch-holes in the strips, and initial feed segments adapted to initiate the feed at the next cycle of operations; a transverse bar positioned beyond said platen over which a K, strip may be fed by said feeding means, strip-severing means associated with said bar, and mechanism for operating said strip feeding means and said strip severing means, the operation of said mechanism being so timed as to cause the severing means to sever the strip while said feed-disks are idly rotatmg.

(5. ln a machine of the character set forth, a casing provided with a platen, strip feed n ing means adapted to feed strips across and 13@ project them beyond said platen, including feed rolls provided With normal feed-disks adapted to Work idly when they encounter punch-holes in the strips, and initial feed segments adapted to initiate the feed at the next cycle of operations; a transverse bar positioned beyond said platen over which a strip may be fed by said feeding means, stripsevering means associated With said bar, including a pair of clamping members and an interposed cutter-blade normally spaced above said bar, and mechanism for operating said strip feeding means and said strip severing means, the operation of said mechanism being so timed as to cause the severing means to sever the strip While said feeddisks are idly rotating, said operating mechanism being further characterized in that it releases the clamping members into clamping engagement before the knife severs the stri F.Pln a machine ofthe character set forth, a casing provided With a platen, strip feeding means adapted to feed strips across and project them beyond said platen, a transverse bar positioned beyond said platen over which a strip may be fed by said feeding means, a pair of clamping-members disposed above said transverse bar, a cutter-blade interposed between said clamping-members, springs tending to depress said clamping members toward said bar, and means for moving said cutter-blade toward said bar to effect severance of the strip, said cutter moving means serving to normally retain said clamping members out of clamping engagement with said strip.

8. In a machine of the character set forth, a casing provided with a platen, strip feeding means adapted to feed strips across and project them beyond said platen, a transverse bar positioned beyond said platen over which a strip may be fed by said feeding means, a pair of clamping-members disposed above said transverse bar, a cutter-blade interposed between said clamping members, springs tending to depress said clamping` members toward said bar, and means for moving said cutter-blade toward said bar to eect severance of the strip, said cutter moving means serving to normally retain said clamping members out of clamping engagement with said strip, and permit them to be depressed by said springs When said means is operated to cause said cutter-blade to sever the strip.

9. In a machine of the character set forth: a casing provided With a platen; strip feeding means adapted to feed perforated strips across said platen, comprising feed disks adapted to rotate idly When they encounter perforations in the strips, and having initial feed segments adapted to initiate the feed at the next cycle of operations; a stationary cutter bar positioned beyond said platen over 

